Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins will host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals, which the B's won in seven games, in their second game of the season at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday evening at TD Garden (TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub).
Boston (0-1-0) lost in its season opener against the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, after taking the lead and ultimately losing it in the first period. Brad Marchand scored the B's first goal of the season at 9:42 (assisted by Tyler Seguin and Joe Corvo), but Claude Giroux scored at 19:10 and Jakub Voracek scored the game-winner at 19:57. Tim Thomas was decent in net , turning away 27 of the 29 shots he faced.
The game certainly wasn't an ordinary one, as the Bruins held their Stanley Cup title ceremony before the game, in which they raised the 2011 championship banner - the sixth in franchise history - to the rafters at TD Garden.
Tampa Bay (1-0-0) opened its season with a victory, as the Lightning routed the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1, on Friday. Jeff Skinner's first period goal put the Hurricanes on top early, but the Lightning rattled off two goals in the second period and three in the third period. Martin St. Louis scored the game-tying goal in the second and Vincent Lecavalier scored on a power play in the second to put Tampa Bay on top for good. Steve Downie, Adam Hall and Ryan Malone each scored in the third period to add the icing to the cake. Steven Stamkos had two assists.
No doubt, the Lightning will want to win this game to exact some level of revenge against the ruins for ending their season a little earlier than they would have liked. On the other bench, Tim Thomas and the Bruins attempt to refocus themselves after possibly losing focus in their banner raising game and will want to notch their first win of the young season.
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